Category: Cal Bears

Clang!: Bears go 13 minutes without a point in loss to Arizona State

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Blowout!

By Morris Phillips

How serious are Cal’s offensive issues?

Serious as shown by a 13-minute stretch on Thursday night where shots hit the rim and bounced off, quality free throw shooters failed to convert and high-scoring point guard Tyrone Wallace found himself motoring to the hoop, but then inexplicably attempted to pass the ball in the opposite direction of where his momentum was carrying him.

None of it worked as the scoreboard showed.  Cal was tied with Arizona State, 10-10, after five minutes of play, then—with less than two minutes remaining in the opening half—the Bears trailed the Sun Devils, 32-10. Opponents’ 22-point runs and 13-minute scoring droughts often signal the worst a team has to offer, but for Cal, which went on to lose 79-44, it was just the tip of the iceberg.

The loss was Cal’s seventh in their last eight games, and the 35-point margin ranks as the second-worst in school history at home in Berkeley.

“It was a tough loss,” Coach Cuonzo Martin said.  “It’s my job as coach to get our guys ready to play and compete.  Their job is to execute what we’re trying to do.  I didn’t do a very good job of that as a head coach to get our guys ready to compete in battle.  We came up short.”

Martin’s Bears needed this to be the weekend that they recovered from a tough stretch bridging December and January but it doesn’t appear as if that will be the case.  No. 7 Arizona visits Haas Pavilion on Saturday night and the Wildcats won’t be overlooking the Bears after last year’s huge upset loss in which their standout forward Brandon Ashley suffered a broken bone and was lost for the remainder of the season.

Instead of springing an unlikely second upset win, the Bears might be better served to get reacquainted with the rim, which the Bears found truly confounding on Thursday.  Jabari Bird and Dwight Tarwater were late adds to Cal’s starting lineup, but both guys went scoreless.  Cal scored 13 points in the first—their fewest since 2010—and shot 33 percent for the game.  In addition to all the rushed shots and poor decisions, the Bears committed 19 turnovers.

Jordan Mathews was Cal’s only double-figure scorer and he totaled just 11 points.

The Sun Devils won their second straight after opening Pac-12 play with four losses.   If one player signified the turnaround in ASU’s play it would be Eric Jacobsen, who scored nine points and gave the smallish Sun Devils an interior presence.  Jacobsen’s improved play coincided with David Kravish’s foul trouble that put Cal’s 6’9” post on the bench for a huge stretch in the first half.

‘Nobody likes to lose, but we have to give the credit where it’s due and Arizona State played a great game,” Kravish said.

Cal Bears basketball commentary & podcast: Bears need this win over the Sun Devils before getting to the Wild Wild Cats

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by Morris Phillips & Michael Duca

BERKELEY–The offensive shortcomings have come up for the Cal Bears (11-7) as they scored 59 points against Stanford last Wednesday Jan 14th at Haas Pavilion. In a game that was one of their better efforts it was their most recent loss, they had a seven game win streak but they followed it with six loses in seven games and now their season is at a crossroads after all that losing.

Arizona State (9-9) and Arizona (16-2) are here Thursday and Saturday respectively and if the Bears don’t get it together this weekend then you can kiss the post season for the Bears goodbye. Luckily for Cal they can create some confidence by taking on Arizona State on Thursday night and before they proceed deeper into the conference.

A lot rides on this game with Arizona State with the exception of their coach Herb Sendek whose a long time familiar face in the Pac 12 so it’s a great opportunity and the Bears don’t want to let this game get by on Thursday night. Because a loss would signal some very ominous days with Arizona coming on Saturday.

The benefit of having eight days off since playing their last game is that they didn’t lose a game and it gives them sometime to regain their confidence and with eight days off means the Bears haven’t lost a game in those eight days. It gives them time to get into the gym and work on their offensive sets and trying to get Jabari Bird reintegrated into their offense.

The Bears are desperate for Bird’s contribution especially if it’s shooting the ball beyond the arc for Cal if your not doing well time off is good. Obviously if the team is rolling you just want to keep playing right through for Cal this is a good thing. The offensive dependency of Tyrone Wallace and Jordan Matthews weigh heavily on Cal’s success to win games. Wallace is a point guard and head coach Cuonzo Martin is not worrying about how much he shoots.

Occasionally Wallace is able to find his guys that are left open with his penetration, Matthews draws more than one defender and Bird principally with David Kravish as well. Martin is trying to get Wallace to fall into the mind set of helping his teammates facilitating in setting guys up. At 19 points a game the challenge is to score and facilitate.

Morris Phillips and Michael Duca cover Cal Bears basketball and doi commentary each week for http://www.sportrsradioservice.com

Cal Bears basketball commentary & podcast: Bird key to assisting on shooting as Cal will start looking for offensive help

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by Michael Duca and Morris Phillips

BERKELEY–The game between the Cal Golden Bears and Stanford Cardinal last Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion was a very interesting game if Cal had come out of either of it’s games in Southern California and played with the intensity and the passion and desire that they played in this game against Stanford they would have at least defeated USC and they might have swept in L.A. against UCLA.

While the outcome of the Stanford game was a ten point “oh well another loss in the L column” the way it got there was a whole different thing and gives them some hope going forward. The Cardinal are a very good team they have two seniors on the floor almost all the time Chasson Randle and Anthony Brown are very, very good players. What was interesting is that the Cardinal’s Stephen Nastic gave the Bears fits in the second half.

Cal had a five point lead and Nastic just gave them fits in the second half for whatever reason, the Golden Bears chose not to double team them Bears head coach Cunozo Martin said after the game that Nastic had such an outside shot who got enough guys outside to block and if you decide to start dumping the post and your leaving somebody open on the perimeter getting burned for twos our liable to get burned for three.

Both teams shot poorly in this game both teams shot under 38 percent in the first half and their shots started falling in the second half and that’s why there was a 15 point differential. It wasn’t that the Golden Bears weren’t giving anything away in fact Cal’s bench had Jabari Bird coming off as Bird was their leading scorer at half time with eight points.

Bird didn’t score in the second half, the Cardinal bench outscored the Bears 19-0 in the first half but only added three more points in the second half. Stanford made some adjustments at halftime and made some defensive adjustments, Cal’s team in general played with a lot more aggression on the floor. Cal’s Sam Singer is a pretty decent defender and a pretty decent reader as a back up point guard but he’s not a scorer with Bird out of the line up.

The burden fell on Bird to try and score and it just wasn’t working and it took him out of his strength area and it highlighted his weak area. With Bird back on the floor it at least allowed then to present the credible outside threat which forces the defense to space it out a little more. Bird was able to do what he does and that’s distribute the ball, get some open looks from David Kravish who was down on the post. Kravish was 5-6 from the floor.

The Bears host the Arizona State Sun Devils this coming Thursday Jan 22 at Haas Pavilion

Cal Bears basketball commentary & podcast: Conference play not all that’s it’s cracked up to be as Cal gets ready for Stanford Wed

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by Michael Duca

BERKELEY–The UCLA Bruins (10-7) made a pretty strong come back in the second half of Sunday’s game to hand the Cal Bears (11-6) a 73-54 loss. It was discussed in the locker room after the first half that Cal had to have more than just one person scoring and they had one person scoring and that was Jordan Matthews who finished up with 23 points.

UCLA’s Kevon Looney finished up with 15 leading the Bruins in offense and it was frustrating for the Cal defense and the starting five for UCLA finished in double figures. In the first half and the Cal offense was meniscal with Cal scoring two points and UCLA opening up a 10-2 run midway in the first half. Matthews in the second half had 12 points and the rest of the team had no more than two.

It meant that no one was going to the basket and trying to draw a foul and there was a book that was written called “the Gang that couldn’t shoot straight” it was a humorous book that was written about the mafia about a guy who was so inept that he couldn’t make a profit at a gas station if he stole a lot full of cars. Well I’m not sure if the Bears could score 60 points now and if they stole the basketball everytime down against the other team.

Conference play is a whole different animal for the Bears after having a 10-1 success look at the other NCAA teams that found that out this past week once conference play started up. Wisconsin shocked the nation Wednesday with a big win over Purdue 62-55 and a close game losing 67-62 to Rutgers when Frank Kaminsky was out of the line up for Wisconsin.

Duke also lost this weekend to North Carolina State 87-75 and there were four top ten teams that went down over the weekend. It’s a competitive scene in college basketball you get into conference play all bets are off. Pretty much any team can rise up and smack you as evidence by Cal’s terrible loss to Washington State 69-66 on Sun Jan 4th and nobody expected the Cougars to win except maybe the Cougars.

The Bears have done something amazing when you think about it how often can you imagine a 10-1 team two weeks into the conference schedule have put themselves into the position that they have to win their conference to win the NCAA Tournament. That’s a pretty astonishing negative accomplishment. If this tells you something about head coach Cunozo Martin and coaches, it tells you that former head coach Mike Montgomery saw this coming and decided to retire and let someone else preside over it.

Michael Duca does Cal Golden Bears commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NCAA Championship commentary & podcast: Carrington’s absence no doubt sends Oregon reeling for help

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by Michelle Richardson

DALLAS–If you asked me last week who was going to win Monday night’s championship between Oregon and Ohio State I would have picked Oregon but a lot has changed since last week. Oregon has had their wide receiver Darren Carrington suspended for Marijuana use and he didn’t make this trip to Dallas with the team. Carrington failed a drug test, also suspended for failing a drug test is running back Ayele Forde who also didn’t travel with the team.

Carrington is the guy who lit up Florida State’s secondary so he was a very vital weapon in the Rose Bowl, right now for Monday’s game I’m giving the slightest edge to Oregon to defeat Ohio State. If the Buckeyes offense catch the Ducks sleeping you know it can be anyone’s ball game. It’s funny how this boils down to this last weekend and something as small as one player being missed and being gone like Carrington will effect you winning the national championship.

Carrington has been crucial to the offense to quarterback Marcus Mariota’s passing game for the entire season and now when your going into the most important game of the season you now don’t have that player to lean on. So like former ABC play by play announcer Keith Jackson would say “this is going to be a barn burner.” People have been arguing for Carrington that marijuana is legal in Oregon. Yes it is legal in Oregon but he also a member of the NCAA and so is Oregon University.

The NCAA considers marijuana use as a street drug like cocaine or heroine and therefore it is illegal to use it while playing for the NCAA. Which as this turns out to be a very sad situation, this is the biggest game of the season and Carrington and Forde failed the test and their suspended by the league. Carrington is now out and not eligible and he is a freshman and this not the way he would want to go into the combine with this hanging over his head after such a super season. Carrington is going to have to do a lot of work and answer some of the scouts at the combine or pro day “why is it that you let your team down at it’s most crucial point?”

Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones is a bit of a mystery because he was a third string quarterback, he was the guy who came in last week to play in the first semi final game for the second string quarterback who was replacing the first string quarterback at the beginning of the season who was injured. So there is very little to know about Jones who has not seen too much action and has a 113.5 quarterback rating coming into Monday night’s game.

What the media knows about Jones is what he did last week in Ohio’s win over Alabama 42-35, Jones threw for 243 yards, 18-35, and one touchdown and was sacked three times. He did a great job against Alabama. We know a lot about the Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota the Heisman Trophy winner and he was the Pac 12 passing leader and won a few more awards. In this match up I give the edge to Jones because the Buckeyes like the Crimson Tide last week didn’t know a lot about him.

Its very hard for the offensive unit you have to get the offensive coordinator to plan on how to cover when Jones is throwing, under that situation he’s got one week of information about him. Many, many things can change about him in a week when it comes to putting a game plan together. Mariota needs to throw accurately and he’s missing a weapon his running back Carrington.

Michelle Richardson does weekly commentary on the NCAA hear the podcast below on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Cal Bears basketball commentary & podcast: Cal gets sets for USC and UCLA can they rebound after some tough loses?

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by Michael Duca and Morris Phillips

BERKELEY–At the time that the Cal Bears were the worst 10-1 team in the nation and they got out and dropped three out of four since that time surprisingly the win came against a ranked team. The loses came against a couple of terrible teams Bakersfield which was at an RPI of 340 and Washington State who had an RPI of 210. So what’s going on?

It was a deceptively fast 10-1 start if you look at the RIP numbers of the teams that they’ve beaten your looking at Syracuse and Eastern Washington 1-2 obviously Washington is the most recent win 81-75 that is best win of the season but prior to that Syracuse, Eastern Washington being ahead of Syracuse as the Orange are not having a good year (10-4). Once again these teams are just flawlessly scheduled.

The thing is a college basketball team has all the control over all of their none conference games and no control over their conference schedule. It’s like day and night which why Cal plays on Wednesday night right after they play on Sunday. The schedule is going to where them down, their thin their still missing Jabari Bird and there’s a lot of potential there.

It’s definitely potential that Cal is going to realize Cal is not sure if their going to see Bird again this season. He was in a boot and what the severity of it is is still a mystery. Stress factures of the foot have a strange way of healing, first of all they have a funny way of happening to the Cal Bears the team seems to have lower leg injuries every year that take out a player and just destroy the mix.

The Bears in particular the best that probably happen for them is to figure out early on if their not going to go anywhere this year and get some serious playing time for guys who deserve it in order to develop. Christian Behrens is not a player, there’s just no two ways about it he brings them nothing on offense Washington State can figure that out they let him shoot anytime he wanted to ten feet and out and he doesn’t have the physical presence or the confidence in those knees to mix it up underneath on defense.

So let’s get some more playing time for Kingsley Okoroh, and that was a great move against Washington to play Okoroh to play Roger Moute a Bidas and both those guys have a real defense presence and a way to help the team this year. Obviously going forward they have a lot more potential and we don’t want to knock any of these kids individually but Behrens needs to play less. The Bears realize that and he finally played 17 minutes against Washington on Friday night.

Listen to the podcast wtih Morris Phillips and Michael Duca who cover Cal Bears basketball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Bears offense falls flat and Washington St. grabs rare win in Berkeley

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Mathews@

By Morris Phillips

Klay Thompson—on his day off from his duties with the Warriors and sitting courtside at Haas Pavilion on Sunday—hadn’t seen it or done it.

For that matter, Coach Mike Montgomery didn’t see it in any of the six seasons that he coached in Berkeley.

The closest occurrence in Montgomery’s span was Thompson’s freshman year when he hit back-to-back three pointers to tie the Washington State-Cal game in Berkeley 60-60 with less than three minutes remaining.  But Jerome Randle and the Bears scored 11 of the game’s final 14 points and edged the Cougars 71-63.

So it hadn’t been since 2008 that WSU defeated Cal in Berkeley until Sunday, when the Cougars had to hold on for dear life in a 69-66 win that was a nail biter despite Cal trailing for the entire second half with the exception of one tie, 32 apiece, with 16 minutes remaining.

In addition to all the losing in Berkeley, the Cougs hadn’t won a Pac-12 road game in over a year, a span of 15 conference road games.   Under first-year coach Ernie Kent, WSU had dropped all four road tests this season: at UTEP, at TCU, at Santa Clara and at Stanford.

“To be on the road and have the first Pac-12 win in conference on the road is huge,” Kent said.  “You’re getting an opportunity to see some players growing up in front of your eyes.”

Growth wasn’t part of the synopsis for Cal, who ended their seven-game home stand with a so-so 4-3 mark.  The Bears shot 37 percent from the field and had huge scoring droughts in both halves.

“I think the biggest key for those guys… is to get offensive rebounds and to rely on defending, rebounding and playing hard,” Coach Cuonzo Martin said.  “The other thing is just driving the ball.  We’ve got to get to the rim to force the referees to make the call.”

The Bears continue to play without Jabari Bird, who missed his ninth straight game, and the strain on the Pac-12’s second leading scorer, Tyrone Wallace, is starting to show.  Wallace missed 26 of 34 shots in the weekend split against the Washington, including 4 of 14 on Sunday.

Senior David Kravish struggled too.  The senior center made 2 of his nine shots and the reluctant offensive post can’t have off nights if the Bears are to stay in the top half of the conference standings.

Josh Hawkinson, an emerging player for WSU on the baseline, had 18 points and 13 rebounds and gave Kravish and company fits with his activity.  The Cougs out-rebounded Cal 38-34 and looked like the better team on the afternoon.

The Bears were led by Jordan Mathews with 24 points, but went nearly nine minutes without a bucket in the first half, allowing WSU to increase their led.  The Bears’ surge near game’s conclusion brought them within a made-three pointer at the buzzer, but Mathews’ 3-point attempt at the buzzer came up short.

The Bears (11-4, 1-1) get a short turnaround before visiting USC on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

NCAA Playoffs commentary & podcast: Previews N.Dak St vs. ILL; Ohio-Oregon; Stuart Scott dedication

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by Michelle Richardson

Ohio (13-1) vs. Oregon (13-1): With these two teams meeting this is what we ask for people and I’m going to tell you my picks are completely off and this is the great thing about having these playoffs games you got to play this game you just got to play. Florida State and Alabama are gone. It’s really nice that there are some new teams in the playoffs. It’s been a few years since last season prior that Oregon has made it to a finals and there is going to be some new life.

It’s not going to be the same ole same ole were tired of seeing Alabama and there are other teams that deserve to be there. This match up between these two teams are truly exciting to see Ohio State who I didn’t think belong there. This does go to show you that TCU did belong there. TCU (12-1) beat the crap out of Ole Miss (9-4) 42-3. TCU set out to show everybody that they should have been in the Final Four and their right.

FLorida State (13-1) they didn’t get beat but they definitely got roughed up in the school yard and that second half heroics didn’t happen. This will tell you about FSU quarterback Jameis Winston and moving forward. People are talking about Winston staying around another year. He’s going to make millions, he’s hot property and is headed to the NFL, if he stays in college another year it’s only going to cost himself money. Winston won a national championship, won a Heisman Trophy there’s no need for Winston to hang around.

North Dakota State (14-1) vs. Illinois State (13-1): This is not the first call to the finals for North Dakota State the Bisons have been running things for awhile in division two play. I’m a Howard University undergrad and you have to roll with the Bison and look at ND State just for that Bison look. Don’t count out Illinois State but I honestly think that ND State if you’ve been honestly following college football ND State has beat Western Ill, Missouri State, and Montana these are some schools that are putting out some tremendous talent.

ND State really are dominating their division so don’t think because it doesn’t happen in the power five there’s not good football out there. ND State proved year after year they can win and face wonderful products out there and they have young men full of heart and I believe that they can play at any level. The only difference is their playing FCS instead of SCS.

Stuart Scott (ESPN anchor) dedication: Sunday was a sad day when it was announced on ESPN that we lost a great sports anchor icon Stuart Scott at the age of 49. He was a sportscasting legend and I don’t say that lightly on Sunday Scott lost his battle with cancer. I literally woke up to picking up my phone and checking my emails and that’s the first thing that popped up on my screen. I’ve been watching this guy since 1993 since he came to Sportscenter he changed Sportscenter.

He’s changed it and if your not old enough to know he changed Sportscenter and made Sportscenter cool. We all love Chris Berman but Scott made Sportscenter cool. He used hip hop vernacular and infused it into the sports lexicon with booyah! Now you have Chris Iseman and many others trying to emulate what Scott did and what he said. It was Scott he’s that guy.

Scott made Sportscenter a really cool show to watch and he’s going to be missed, he was a father he wasn’t just a sportscaster. He was a father who always took time to talk about his daughters who were the light of his life. A bright light has just gone out in the sports world. Scott’s family and his two daughters Sydni and Taelor will miss him so much and I can not tell you how much I feel your pain but I hurt with you.

Michelle Richardson does NCAA Commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to her podcast on Stuart Scott and the NCAA below

Cal gets back to winning in Pac-12 opener against No. 21 Washington

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Cal tough

By Morris Phillips

“Top 25” December to serious adversity–even obscurity–in January.  It’s the riches-to-rags journey no college hoops team wants to endure.

But for a handful of unfortunate teams in the Big Five conferences it’s a certainty every season, where schools with the best-orchestrated non-conference schedules also have the biggest in-conference obstacle courses–which are completely out of their control.

With December done and January here, those circumstances could apply to No. 21 Washington, or to a slightly lesser degree, Cal, two teams that happened to be on the hardwood together on Friday for the Pac-12 opener at Haas Pavilion.

Lorenzo Romar’s Huskies opened 11-0, including upsets of ranked Oklahoma and San Diego State, and vaulted into the Top 25 after they were perceived in the pre-season to be headed for a finish in the bottom half of the Pac-12.  Then in their final tune up, UW lost at home to Stony Brook.

Cuonzo Martin’s Bears bumped Syracuse and the highest RPI-ranked team on their schedule to date, Eastern Washington, along with eight other teams ranked 125 and below in a 10-1 start that was deceptively among the school’s best.  Then adversity struck in the form of No. 5 Wisconsin and a shocker to visiting Cal State Bakersfield, ranked 320th in the last RPI release, giving Cal a “bad loss” for the ages.

So however they termed it, and probably not in these terms, Martin and Romar had their teams on watch for the opener.  Martin was concerned about the Bears ability to score against an athletic defense sparked by shot blocking sophomore transfer Robert Upshaw, and Romar just needed his guys to have short memories and the required intensity for a road game in a hostile environment.

In the opening 20 minutes, it appeared Romar’s wishes were granted as UW shot 53 percent and led by five.  But Cal got all the bounces in the second half to win narrowly, 81-75.  The Bears were led by the trio of Jordan Mathews, Tyrone Wallace and David Kravish who combined for 71 points and carefully heeded their coach’s wishes for attacking play on offense.

“I thought Tyrone, who was 2 of 13 in the first half, was aggressive and stayed in attack mode.  I thought David was engaged offensively from start to finish.  He posted up, played on the perimeter, made plays off the bounce and got to the free throw line.  Those were all the things we worked on with him in practice.  I think Jordan shot the ball and shot it with confidence.  His energy was good in practice the last two or three days.  It carried over well for him into the game,” Martin said.

Needing to be resourceful, given the opponent and the continued absence of injured Jabari Bird, the Bears were, especially after the break.

First, with Christian Behrens struggling with fouls and his productivity, Martin leaned heavily on Roger Moute A Bidas and 7’0” Kingsley Okoroh for the first time.  Okoroh was the recipient of a nifty interior pass from Kravish that he converted to put Cal up 47-39 with 12:06 remaining.  Minutes later, Moute A Bidas slipped down the lane off his dribble for a layup and a 52-46 Cal lead.  Both players were active defensively as well with Okoroh muscling with Upshaw and Moute A Bidas assigned to UW leading scorer Nigel Williams-Goss.

As Martin noted, Kravish had one of his best games of the season with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while taking on the challenge of neutralizing Upshaw.  Wallace struggled with his shot, missing 16 of 20 attempts, but he was near perfect from the line (11-12), as was his ball handling.

And Mathews was as good as he’s ever been, attacking the rim off the dribble or pulling up for jumpers on his way to a team-best 31 points.

“Mathews got going,” Romar said.  “He had an outstanding game and that really helped them shoot 60 percent in a half.  On the road it’s going to be tough to get back from that.  Tonight we didn’t do a very good job at that and they took advantage.”

Williams-Goss led UW with 19 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, but after a quick start was just another guy in a black-and-purple uniform when the Huskies were determined to get point blank shot opportunities but more often than not missed them, shooting just 38 percent after the break.

The Bears finish their seven-game home stand on Sunday when Washington State visits Haas Pavilion at 3:00 p.m.

Cal Bears Basketball Commentary & podcast: Cal opens Pac 12 conference play with Washington

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by Michael Duca & Morris Phillips

BERKELEY–The Pac 12 Conference opener with the Washington Huskies (11-1) at Haas Pavilion tonight kicks off Cal’s first meeting with a Pac 12 team. Cal (10-3) is coming off that shocking loss to the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (3-10) 55-52 on Sunday. Roadrunners head coach Rod Barnes is no slouch of a coach who with Mississippi of the SCC and a long time coach in college basketball and he has got his guys ready to play against Cal Sunday and shocked a nation with that win.

So what team is going to show up tonight at Haas Pavilion? Is it the team that started out 11-1? Will Cal be able to continue at that pace when league play starts. Your really not sure what you got with Cal, you have a first year coach Cuonzo Martin first time through and here it is opening night with Washington and conference play.

Washington has one loss and Huskies head coach Lorenzo Romar is the dean of Pac 12 coaches whose been coaching and couldn’t have been more of an experienced coach. He has coached with longevity just in league play and is seeing his work pay off with a great 11-1 start. Romar is noted for his successful recruiting and has coached well. The thing with Romar people have constantly doubted him and last year was a down year and the rumors stared to come up that Romar would be on his way out.

Sure enough this team has won it’s first 11 games for 2014-15 season and the Huskies look good doing it with great defense they got the big guys in the middle and as usual the taller perimeter player can shoot. Romar as always been able to field a pretty good team. This is a league that’s kind of wide open. Utah Utes (10-2) has a wonderful team that have an emerging big man, they have an offensive guard that went to City College in San Francisco. You got to look at the Utes as the number two team in the Pac 12.

There are a number of schools in the Pac 12 that are trying to establish themselves and make it towards and obviously and qualify for the NCAA Tournaments for a Pac 12 bid. The Huskies and the Bears are right there in the thick of it and here they are on opening night, this opener is a big night in so many ways for both teams. Washington is coming off their first loss of the year to Stony Brook (8-6) 62-57 and Cal’s first loss to CSU Bakersfield on Sunday. So both teams are looking for a recovery from those loses.

In this league there is a lot of talent a lot of great coaches every night is a battle, USC (8-4) with head coach Andy Enfield played much better this month than last month they saw how much continuity they had but also how much talent they had. UCLA (8-5) is getting better as they’re coming from a place they haven’t been before under head coach Steve Alford. Alford is a very experienced coach but lost a lot good players Jordan Adams for example who is moving onto the NBA.

Cal hosts Washington tonight with a 7:00PM tip at Haas Pavilion

Morris Phillips and Michael Duca cover Cal men’s basketball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com